


under a violet moon

by sadwolf



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dungeons & Dragons, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Drinking, F/F, Kissing, Magic, also baldur's gate 3 haha, bard rogelio, elf adora, horse emily, inspired by dungeons and dragons kind of, kind of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-03
Updated: 2021-01-03
Packaged: 2021-03-13 04:00:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,081
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28522062
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sadwolf/pseuds/sadwolf
Summary: “I thought the point of traveling together was to face dangertogether.”There was a pause, then. The early morning birds chattered for a moment, their companions had muttered conversations of their own behind them, before Adora continued, “This felt different, somehow. I felt like...maybe the sword was telling me, I needed to do this on my own.”Perhaps Catra would never understand, but she decided to let the matter go, for the moment. She had Adora back, and that was what was really important.
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 18





	under a violet moon

**Author's Note:**

> thank you to [allourheroes](https://archiveofourown.org/users/allourheroes/pseuds/allourheroes) for being my awesome beta reader for this fic! <3
> 
> title is from a blackmore's night song by the same name, thought it fit the vibes
> 
> i might post more to this as a series or maybe more chapters but for now this is the story haha please enjoy!

The tavern was bustling, full of drunken merriment and some brooding in the corners. Catra was eager for a drink herself after a long day of travel with her companions, and maybe a room to stay in if there was space for it. She fell onto a chair near the back of the establishment and Scorpia gave her shoulder a squeeze before going to the bar to order drinks for everyone, as she usually did. Being the most outgoing of all of them, Scorpia was the one who could diffuse tension the easiest, though each one of them was willing to put up with a tussle if it came to it.

It felt like no time had passed at all when Scorpia was back, and Catra realized she was more distracted and tired than she had realized. That didn’t bode well. But she took the drink with a nod of thanks, and downed half of it in one go. It tasted just as well as any other tavern wine, and she hardly tasted it anymore after visiting so many. The burn of it was more often what she craved. 

Lonnie, Rogelio, and Kyle were more or less completely ignoring her, as they usually did once they were in a tavern. They listened to her well enough on the road, but once they were in an inn, they were in their own world. She didn’t blame them. Lonnie and Kyle were talking while Rogelio played one of his instruments, a flute for tonight. Scorpia was talking at her, but Catra tuned her out as usual, eventually holding up the metal mug in askance for more wine, and Scorpia gave her one of those looks that was more soft than she deserved, that she could never quite decipher, before giving in and filling up the mug again. It seemed to take longer this time, which didn’t make sense since it should have seemed shorter with some drink in her. Melog was quiet in the seat beside her, saying nothing, but watching with eyes that said enough. Catra ignored them and drank more.

Entrapta had been stabling their horse but returned and took a seat near the rest of them, putting some sort of device on the table that Catra could never hope to understand and taking it apart. It could have been magical or technical in origin or perhaps both, but Catra quickly forgot about it as Scorpia had returned with her tavern wine, and Catra was lost to the mug and memories of golden hair and long elven ears, eyes like the ocean…

The rest of the night was forgotten and she woke to a rumpled haysack bed and an early morning. She let out a sigh and gathered her wits and companions as best she could, letting the long-ago memories fade to the evenings where they were better left, and started another day of travel and adventure.

~~~

They picked up jobs in the towns they visited, Scorpia asking innkeeps for the rumors of the village if they would part with them. There usually was at least one odd task for them, chasing out bandits or asking a wild animal to leave a territory. Catra was nicer to animals than she was to people, most of the time. As a ranger, she knew the way of the forest better than the intricacies of towns, and felt most at ease when among the trees. Not all of her companions felt exactly the same, but they seemed to enjoy being at her side well enough. They hadn’t left yet, anyway. 

Well, not all of them.

Catra was surprised sometimes, that they were still beside her. Following her, even after...but she...Adora hadn’t given anyone a chance to follow her. She had just vanished, with that stupid note that Catra hadn’t found for days, left in her bag.

_ Hey Catra, _

_ I know you’ll hate me for this, but I have to go. I can’t tell you why right now, but maybe we’ll meet again some day. Thanks for everything. I mean that. _

_ -Adora _

Catra had read that note so many times it was hardly even legible, anymore. She had considered the probabilities of Adora being sarcastic, the hidden meanings there could be, the looping of her handwriting in the “A” of her signature. She had tried following her tracks through the forest, but they cut off at the river after looping back several times, and Catra knew she had used it to disguise herself from being followed any further.

Adora had been her best friend, and she thought they had been about to be something more, maybe, someday, but...maybe Adora hadn’t felt the same. Now, Catra would never know.

And so, she drowned herself in tavern wine every night. Better than drowning in memories of ocean eyes.

~~~

Adora swung the huge sword through another tangle of branches, fighting her way through the seemingly neverending bramble that clustered around her like a fog with a ferocity she hadn’t known she possessed.

She had begun to feel a tugging deep within her, as if from her very soul, a sort of emptiness and longing she had never felt before, and it was calling her to the depths of the forest, away from her companions, away from...Catra. She never thought she would leave Catra, no matter how often they disagreed or even fought, no matter how often the sunlit laughter of the road morphed into the heated fists of the tavern. Catra seemed to always be getting into fights, but Adora didn’t even mind that. She would have stayed, wanted to always be beside Catra, wanted to kiss those lips of hers and tangle her hands in that long dark hair of hers until she had lost herself, but then she felt the calling…it had echoed in her mind, and her very being, for as long as she could stand, but as it grew she could bear it no longer, and she left a short note that she hoped encompassed what she was feeling, and then she left to follow the strange feeling, making sure she wouldn’t be followed in case it led to something more dangerous than she could bear her companions facing.

When Adora had found it, she had known. It was the sword. Larger than any sword she had seen, made of a metal she couldn’t decipher, sleek and cool in her hand and glowing at her touch. A soft, otherworldly blue. It was as if it was made for her. She wondered in some vague corner of her mind if Entrapta would know its origin.

Though she had easily made it into the forest, as if in a trance, it seemed an impossible feat to escape its clutches. All manner of vine and bramble clung around her, as if only to entangle her. And so, she was trapped, and she didn’t know where she was, or how to return to her companions, to Catra, all of whom she missed so dearly. She didn’t even know how long she had been gone.

~~~

Catra was leading Emily, their only horse, who carried most of their things that they didn’t carry on their persons, distracted in her thoughts, when she caught a snippet of conversation, drifting on the wind from her companions behind her. Only Melog walked with her, scouting ahead a few paces on the trail, ever-watchful.

“How long has it been, now?” She heard, from Lonnie.

“Since what?” Entrapta replied.

“Since...you know. It happened.”

“Since what happened?”

There was silence. Catra knew what they were talking about. They were talking about when Adora left, but they didn’t want to actually talk about it. They were hoping she wasn’t listening.

“She means when Adora…” Scorpia interjected with a careful tone, but before she could come up with more to say, Entrapta caught on.

“OH! When Adora left? Exactly 96 turns of the sun ago.”

Catra already knew that. She had been keeping track of the days too. Three months. It seemed like so much longer. Melog glanced back at her, but Catra avoided their gaze.

“You don’t have to be so careful,” Catra called back to them, “I know how long it’s been. But it doesn’t matter.” She gave Emily a pat on the neck to reassure herself more than the horse. “She isn’t coming back.”

There was more silence from the rest of the group.

~~~

It was a day like any other. Another week had passed. Entrapta was leading Emily and talking softly to her in beastspeak, which only she and Catra spoke. Catra was at the back of the group, supposed to be watching the rear for any signs of attacks, but she was distracted by the haze of her melancholy as she always was lately, and everyone else pretended nothing was wrong and more or less ignored her. Scorpia gave her another one of those  _ looks _ that Catra never knew what to do with, but she ignored it as she always did. Melog was quiet and solemn as ever, a reassuring presence beside her.

It was just another day and Catra was already thinking of the alehouse, when suddenly, it was a day completely out of the ordinary.

Rogelio was the first to notice something amiss, and he gave a loud strum of his current instrument, a lute. Kyle and Lonnie immediately looked into the surrounding forest, and Scorpia drew her weapon. Entrapta stopped the horse with a whispered word and had a gadget at the ready in one hand, the other sweeping over their belongings on the horse to make sure everything was secure in case they needed a speedy getaway.

None of them were prepared to see a very bedraggled Adora stumble out of the forest onto the path in front of them, staggering a few steps and then stabbing a huge sword into the slick dirt, her eyes darting between all of them for a few moments before landing on Catra and breaking into a huge grin, looking as beautiful as ever despite how weary she seemed to be. She seemed about to say something, but she took a few breaths and then fell onto the path, fast asleep. The sword fell beside her with a ringing clang.

Nobody said anything for several seconds, nor moved at all. Then Catra was running towards Adora before she even realized anything had happened, the pounding of her own heart in her ears louder than even the sounds of the forest. She slid a tentative hand to Adora’s face, sliding a few tendrils of her gold hair from her skin before lifting her into a bridal-style carry and depositing her gently onto Emily’s back. Her companions had gathered around at this point to help.

“We have a problem,” Scorpia said, her voice as soft as it always was lately, the kind of soft that grated on Catra after too long awhile. But she took a breath and didn’t allow it to bother her.

“What?”

“The sword...it won’t budge.”

Entrapta was already fascinated, observing the sword from every angle and attempting to pry it from its spot on the path where it, indeed, appeared to be stuck fast. They all tried to move it, except for Catra, who remained by Emily and Adora, but it would not be moved.

“We’ll just stay here,” Catra decided, “Until she wakes up, and tells us what’s going on, and moves it for us.”

This was met with silence. Then Rogelio started strumming a tune on his lute, and Catra gently guided Emily to the side of the road, where Scorpia started unloading the bedrolls and other equipment that they used when they set up camp. They usually weren’t so close to the road when they did this, but it didn’t seem safe somehow to leave the sword far away from them for long, if at all. There was something odd about it. Entrapta was still studying it, trailing her fingers along the wide blade, which was etched with lines and circles whose meanings Catra could never hope to decipher.

Day passed into evening, and Catra was glad they had set up camp, as Adora didn’t seem to be waking. They had moved her off the horse and onto a bedroll when it was apparent they weren’t moving, but it didn’t make a difference in the slightest. There were no other travellers on the road yet. It was unlikely there would be others on the path into the night.

Catra insisted on keeping watch, though she was truly keeping watch over Adora. Where had she been, and how had she come across them again so suddenly? What was this sword all about? How could she have left that damned note? How did she still look so beautiful even when she seemed at the same time so unkept, as if she hadn’t seen an inn or even a stream in all the time she had been gone?

She had a lot of questions, but she was so relieved, as well. Adora was safe, relatively, and she was here. She was back. 

~~~

Adora awoke slowly, the crackling of a campfire like music in her ears, warm with the ache of longing. When she opened her eyes, she saw a familiar pair looking back at her, a heterochromatic gaze of blue and yellow that she had missed so much. She broke into a grin, that wasn’t yet returned, and felt her heart skip a beat in anticipation.

“Catra,” she began, but before she could say anything else, Catra spoke instead.

“Where were you? Why did you leave that...terrible note? How could you think that was okay?”

Adora blinked, then looked away. “I thought it was better than leaving nothing. Maybe it wasn’t. Maybe I wrote the wrong thing. But...I had to go.” She looked back, pleading, wishing she could see the warmth she remembered instead of those cold eyes, but knowing she had to earn them back, “I felt the strangest pull, deep, calling me. I can hardly explain it, but it led me to...the sword!” She looked about herself then, realizing suddenly that the sword was nowhere to be found around the bedroll.

“It’s on the road, where it fell beside you. None of us could move it.” Catra stood and walked back to the path, and Adora gathered herself to follow, falling over herself only slightly.

“I don’t know what it is, exactly, but it felt...like it’s made for me.”

Catra said nothing to that, just watched as Adora picked the sword up and hefted it onto her shoulder in a way that maybe wasn’t completely safe, but was the way she had found was best to carry it. When Adora looked back at her after a few moments of silence, her expression had softened a little.

“I’m...glad you’re back,” Catra admitted, already turning away to head back to the camp.

Adora felt warmth blossom in her, and knew they were going to be okay. With time.

~~~

They spent the rest of the night at the same encampment, Catra finally getting some rest now that Adora had awoken. At dawn’s first light, they were on the move, repacking their equipment onto Emily’s back and traversing the road again, their pace unhurried without the previous tension of Catra’s sorrow, a glow of anticipated hope about them all.

Adora and Catra were at the front of the group, not speaking as much as they used to in times past, but with glances back and forth that spoke of something blooming again. A tentative return to their relationship, not yet ready to take hold, but finding a footing. Adora was the first to speak.

“I didn’t mean to upset you with that note,” she said, tone apologetic, “I was distracted by the pull of the sword.” The sword which still had an otherworldly glow, a glow that had been abandoned when Adora’s touch had left it, but had returned when it was back in her grasp. Catra decided she would think on that later. “I didn’t know what I would find, if the pull was something...worse than anything we had faced. I didn’t want to put you or the others in danger.”

Catra shook her head, pushing down the heat she felt rising. “I thought the point of traveling together was to face danger  _ together _ .”

There was a pause, then. The early morning birds chattered for a moment, their companions had muttered conversations of their own behind them, before Adora continued, “This felt different, somehow. I felt like...maybe the sword was telling me, I needed to do this on my own.”

Perhaps Catra would never understand, but she decided to let the matter go, for the moment. She had Adora back, and that was what was really important.

There was pleasant silence again for a few passing moments when a commotion rustled from the trees.

“That ISN’T yours!” A voice exclaimed, followed by a burst of pink magebolt that exploded on the path just beside them, as if in warning.

Catra and Adora both drew blades, facing a pair of people who were dressed in armor too well-cared for to be bandits, and who looked absolutely furious. This was not out of the ordinary for their adventures, though they often did attempt to sort conflict with words before battle.

“Where did you find that sword? It doesn’t belong to you!” the mage continued, pink power fluttering around her hands while her companion drew his bow at the ready.

“I found it alone in the woods, calling to me,” Adora answered, as if that made sense. Catra didn’t say anything, knowing she often had a way of making these confrontations go for the worse.

The pair looked to each other, then back to Catra and Adora. The mage examined the sword, eyes widening when she noticed the ethereal glow of it.

“You’re...She-Ra?”

~~~

They discovered that the mage and archer were Glimmer and Bow, and they were sworn to protect the sword, which would only answer to a being called She-Ra. Little was known about the sword, even to them, but while they didn’t always watch the sword, they were connected to it in a similar way that Adora was, and felt that it had been disturbed.

This was all sorted out through a tense meal over a campfire, in which Glimmer and Bow regarded Catra and Adora and their companions with wary eyes, and most of the party watched the pair of them with just as much suspicion. Emily grazed at some grass without much wariness, and Entrapta too seemed mostly indifferent to the tensions as she interjected with excited questions about the sword and its origins. 

“Why does it glow? Is it magical or technological?”

“It’s a bit of both,” Bow replied, seeming to ease slightly in the face of Entrapta’s enthusiasm, “There seems to be some mechanical elements to its construction, but the connection it forms with She-Ra and its guardians is magical from what we understand. Nobody but She-Ra can actually wield it. Anything more than that we don’t really know.”

Entrapta and Bow fell into a conversation theorizing possible answers to the mysteries of the sword and She-Ra while Glimmer continued to glare at everybody else. Catra focused on the soup Kyle had made for dinner. Adora had stuck the sword in the ground again and it was no longer glowing for the moment.

Rogelio had a small harp with a melodious sound that was perfect for defusing tension. Its soothing tones fluttered above the conversation and Catra found her shoulders easing despite the strangers in their presence. Adora and Glimmer had even begun to speak, and there was a hint of a smile around both their eyes. Catra wasn’t quite listening to the conversation, but she was glad to see Adora looking so well, and safe.

Scorpia was reassuring Lonnie and Kyle a slight distance from the campfire, and Catra joined them after finishing her soup. “Adora knows what she’s doing,” she said without preamble, sitting on the grass beside them, “She has a good feeling about these people, so I think we can trust them.”

“See? What did I tell you!” Scorpia exclaimed, but Lonnie didn’t seem convinced.

“Are we even sure we can trust Adora anymore? Or...you? You haven’t exactly been much of a leader lately, Catra.” Her expression was shocked as soon as the words left her mouth.

But Catra felt...nothing at the words. Or perhaps, understanding, at the least. “I know. You don’t have to trust me. But trust Adora.” She folded her arms and looked at her toes, digging into the soil. “We should all trust Adora more. I should have trusted her to come back. And I should trust her now to stay.”

She could feel the others looking at each other, and Scorpia, as usual put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “It’s okay to be angry at her.”

Catra was silent for several seconds. But she truly didn’t feel angry. “I am so glad she’s back. I wish I could have gone with her. And I’ll be so mad if she leaves again with nothing but another note. But...I can’t blame her, really.” And that was all Catra could bring herself to say about the matter. She blinked and realized she was exposing herself, feeling oddly vulnerable, and without another word, she stood up and left the group of them for a nearby clump of trees.

Melog was the only one to follow her. She ran a hand through the cat’s long mane, grateful for the silence her animal companion offered her. 

After some time, when the stars were speckling the sky and most of the others had likely gone to sleep, she heard Adora calling for her.

“You really shouldn’t be away from camp on your own, Catra,” she was saying.

Catra felt a smile tug at her lips. “I’m not all that far.”

“Far enough to be lonely?”

“Lonely indeed,” Melog muttered, but the words would only be a meow to Adora.

“Perhaps not so lonely, after all,” Adora continued, laughter in her voice.

“I was lonely enough to miss you,” Catra said, “But Melog is always close.”

Melog rubbed reassuringly along Catra’s leg, but then gave a pointed look between the pair of them that said more than their words could, and the cat strolled back toward the camp with a flick of their tail, making Catra and Adora both laugh and diffusing more of the tension that still lay between them.

“You know, before you left, I was...going to tell you something,” Catra said, her voice soft in the stillness between them as Adora took a seat in the cool grass beside her, leaning against her shoulder with a tiny nudge of comfort.

Adora looked up, and Catra followed her gaze to the silhouettes of leaves against the stars, wavering slightly in the night breeze. “And what were you going to tell me?” Adora asked, and when Catra looked back at her, she already had her sight back on Catra, a soft expression on her face, so open, so warm, and a thrill of anticipation in her eyes, the glint of a hope unspoken.

“I was going to tell you...how much I care about you. And that I think about…”

Catra could not find it in herself to continue, looking back at the sky.

“Kissing me?” Adora filled in, but the laughter was gone.

“Yeah.”

“Can I kiss you, Catra?” 

Catra’s heart was pounding, and she turned back toward Adora, but still could not meet her gaze. “Yeah.”

Adora’s lips were so soft, so warm, and Catra felt like she was soaring. She felt the grass on her toes and the tree at her back and Adora, Adora, Adora, and her eyes were closed but she didn’t remember closing them and then there was a slide of tongues and a moan and then it was over, but Catra never wanted it to end.

Then she was looking back at those ocean eyes, glowing in the soft moonlight, and she was home.

She trusted Adora, and she knew Adora trusted her. They would discover the mysteries of the sword together, and face whatever other adventures came their way, with each other. 

She knew then that Adora would always be her home, and she would never lose that again.


End file.
